A perceptional view of the Coleman model of trust

In his classic model of trust, Coleman (1990) argues that the decision of an actor to trust or not is a function of the expected gain and loss involved. In this paper we show how actors who attempt to recruit others into network marketing employ narrative in manipulating the recruit's expectations. For example, we show how the costs involved in recruiting friends and family into network marketing are transformed into benefit through narrative strategies. Through the strategic use of narrative, recruiters change the recruit's perception of the parameters of the Coleman model and make perfectly rational behavior that was not considered rational before. In addition, we argue that recruiters use similar narrative on themselves in reconfirming the validity of their own previous decision to trust.

The Effects of Recruitment Message Specificity on Applicant Attraction to Organizations

We used the elaboration likelihood model from marketing research to explain and examine how recruitment message specificity influences job seeker attraction to organizations. Using an experimental design and data from 171 college-level job seekers, the results showed that detailed recruitment messages led to enhanced perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit. Perceptions of fit were found to mediate the relationship between message specificity and intention to apply to the organization. In addition, perceptions of organization attributes and person-organization fit were found to influence intentions to apply under circumstances of explicit recruitment information while attractiveness and fit perceptions were shown to influence application intentions under conditions of implicit recruitment information. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Thermodynamics of micellization of oppositely charged polymers

The complexation of oppositely charged colloidal objects is considered in this paper as a thermodynamic micellization process where each kind of object needs the others to micellize. This requirement gives rise to quantitatively different behaviors than the so-called mixed-micellization where each specie can micellize separately. A simple model of the grand potential for micelles is proposed to corroborate the predictions of this general approach.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter

Persecution of Minorities in Algeria: What Fuels the Maltreatment?

Algeria, the largest country in Africa, has nearly a uniform population. Arab Sunni Muslims comprise fully 99% of the 42 million strong-populace. Why, then, does its government grapple with fears of separatist movements from its own Sunni population? Further, why does it use suppression and persecution to hold down its meager minority populations that includes ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic denizens whose combined numbers total just 1% and who pose no serious threat to the powerful and often highly corrupt government and military force? The answer may lie in the rise of fundamentalist Islam, a movement that strives to make theocracy and Sharia law replace the current democratic government system. This balance of pleasing and thus containing the fundamentalist movement, which has consumed much of the Middle East and North Africa, has made its mark felt in Algeria and could threaten to destabilize one of the continent’s most powerful nations

Hereditary Slavery Shackles Mauritania

This paper exposes the scourge of slavery that continues to thrive in the country of Mauritania in modern times. Though the practice is formally abolished and illegal, and the government continues to claim slavery has been eradicated, the truth lies elsewhere. 90,000 dark-skinned slaves, often referred to as Black Moors, continue to live deplorable lives in servitude to their lighter-skinned masters. The Mauritanian government is helping the scourge of slavery endure by denying its existence and providing it cover. Their task is made easier as the face of slavery changes and becomes hidden in the throes of modern commerce, making it more difficult for an outsider to differentiate between a low-income wage earner and a slave. Other situations are painfully identifiable, such as conducting human trafficking for purposes of prostitution. In all situations, women and children make up the vast majority of indentured servants. Due to a forced dearth of educational opportunity, slaves are often illiterate and therefore largely unable to emancipate themselves without outside help. Deeply entrenched belief systems, practices, and governmental and societal structures that exist in Mauritania secure an environment that allows slavery to continue to thrive. In addition to the Mauritanian government, businesses, educational facilities, NGO’s, and members of society at every level must take decisive action to eradicate the practice and change the beliefs that hold it in place. Foreign governments and businesses hold great power in their willingness to engage with Mauritanian leaders. By withholding financial aid and business deals international players have the opportunity to hasten the eradication of slavery in Mauritania This paper examines the depth of the slavery problem and recommends multiple steps for its elimination

India’s Muslims and Hindu Nationalism

India is in the midst of changing its definition of what it means to be Indian. For the first time since becoming an independent nation in 1947, the government of India has chosen to use religion as a criteria for citizenship. This paper examines the critical importance of this development as it pertains to Muslims currently living in India, as well as for anyone living in South Asia who may wish to seek asylum in India in the future. The paper also examines the significance of the world’s most populous democracy shifting from secular to sectarian governance, a development with local, regional, and global impacts.The immediate effect of using religion as a criteria for citizenship has immediate and far-reaching consequences for India’s minority Muslim population. The criteria also impacts other religious groups in India and the south Asia region. This significant change has already resulted in deleterious effects including mob violence, internal displacement of Indian-born Muslims into newly constructed detention camps, and the expectation of massive deportation of Muslims from India.The findings presented in this paper are based on information obtained from historical sources provided by human rights organizations, government foreign affairs reports, and current references including media, non-government organizations, and political think tanks

Socio-Political Conditions for Christians in Egypt

For those who have studied the history of religious tensions in Egypt, the current rising tide of violence against Christians in the country should come as no surprise. Persecution of Christians in Egypt dates back for centuries. In recent years—particularly during the past decade—we have witnessed a greater interest in understanding the violence, not only in academia, but among the interested general population as well. This has led to an upsurge in academic writings and in media articles discussing the issue. After a thorough literature review, I have discovered that many of the pieces focus on the empirical, while often neglecting the normative. While empiricism is important for any research endeavor, this paper seeks to focus more on the narratives on the ground. As a sociologist for three decades, I have worked closely with the Egyptian Christian immigrant community in the U.S. and have regularly been called to testify in asylum courts across the U.S. regarding the issues of religious intolerance in Egypt. Over the years, I have conducted countless interviews with these individuals. As such, I have used their personal stories as a starting point for my academic inquiries. As a case study, I have selected three personal narratives to include in this analysis. All of the individuals' names have been changed in order to safeguard their identity. For this paper, I have specifically chosen individuals from different backgrounds, genders, education levels, social standings, and geographical location. In doing so, I was able to piece together a larger narrative that demonstrates how the persecution of Christians in Egypt is not limited to one group or another—it is widespread throughout Egyptian society. In the end, I was able to discover that each of the individuals suffered in different ways. However, they all suffered given one basic commonality—being Christian in Egypt

Yemen’s Human Rights Abuses Skyrocket Amidst Ongoing Chaos

Six years of war in Yemen have destroyed human rights in a country whose record was already abysmal. Yemen is considered the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, largely due to its food insecurity. Destroyed infrastructure, lack of services and fuel, a non-functioning government, and continued fighting has taken the lives of over 18,000 civilians, leaving survival efforts to take precedent overall. With no oversight, human rights are non-existent. A significant rise in violence has occurred against women including abuse, rape, and torture by a number of parties, including belligerents. Houthi rebels, Saudi forces, and Saudi backed Yemeni forces have all been documented to have committed serious abuses against civilians. For women, violence in the home is even worse. With extremely limited rights and protection, women remain vulnerable to domestic and sexual violence from relatives and have little to no recourse. Honor killings remain acceptable, and young girls are frequently married off as there is no minimum age of marriage. With chaos continuing to block most outside help, Yemeni’s will continue to suffer extreme human rights abuses until the war ends

The ∞\infty-Categorical Reflection Theorem and Applications

In this paper we prove an $\infty$-categorical version of the reflection theorem of Ad\'amek-Rosick\'y. Namely, that a full subcategory of a presentable $\infty$-category which is closed under limits and $\kappa$-filtered colimits is a presentable $\infty$-category. We then use this theorem in order to classify subcategories of a symmetric monoidal $\infty$-category which are equivalent to a category of modules over an idempotent algebra.Comment: 51 pages, comments are welcome

Viral RNAs are unusually compact.

A majority of viruses are composed of long single-stranded genomic RNA molecules encapsulated by protein shells with diameters of just a few tens of nanometers. We examine the extent to which these viral RNAs have evolved to be physically compact molecules to facilitate encapsulation. Measurements of equal-length viral, non-viral, coding and non-coding RNAs show viral RNAs to have among the smallest sizes in solution, i.e., the highest gel-electrophoretic mobilities and the smallest hydrodynamic radii. Using graph-theoretical analyses we demonstrate that their sizes correlate with the compactness of branching patterns in predicted secondary structure ensembles. The density of branching is determined by the number and relative positions of 3-helix junctions, and is highly sensitive to the presence of rare higher-order junctions with 4 or more helices. Compact branching arises from a preponderance of base pairing between nucleotides close to each other in the primary sequence. The density of branching represents a degree of freedom optimized by viral RNA genomes in response to the evolutionary pressure to be packaged reliably. Several families of viruses are analyzed to delineate the effects of capsid geometry, size and charge stabilization on the selective pressure for RNA compactness. Compact branching has important implications for RNA folding and viral assembly